Sports Interaction is sending players to the WPT North American Poker Championships which takes place in Niagara Falls, Ontario CA. The package is worth USD12,000, that covers your entry fee (USD10,300) and USD1,700 cash in your account.
WPT Finals run on Sundays at 8 PM ET, the buy-in is USD200+15. There are numerous ways to satellite your way into this event. Sundays at 5:30 PM ET there is a WPT Semi Final with a buy-in of USD38+2.
If you have been collecting Gold Chips and were waiting for a good opportunity to use them, then make sure you check the tournament lobby (events tab) as there are some fantastic value satellites into the Sunday WPT Final. Look out for the 7 Gold Chips R/A where the top 7 players get a seat into the WPT Final.
Check the website for more details
Bet Sizing on the Flop
Poker players in general make different size bets on the flop to serve different purposes. Bets smaller than one-third of the pot are unusual as are bets larger than the pot. In the book ‘Harrington on Cash Games (volume 1)’ Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie give a good summary of possible bet sizes and what the usual meaning of each bet is.
The bet sizes outlined are only intended as rough guidelines. Click here to go through the summary of bets and the usual meaning. Keep in mind that when you are playing poker you need to vary your bets as your opponents will quickly work out what your bets mean. Your bets intended for a particular purpose need to average something like the amounts given in this summary.
Gold Cards
Save your Gold Cards for the big USD100,000 tournament on the 4th October. Check the daily news to see if your cards have been chosen.
Gold Card Satellites will run up until to the 30th September - check the poker lobby for the schedule.
This tournament will only be open for 100 players and all places will be paid.
One-third of the pot: These are small bets, usually probe bets or blocking bets. A probe bet is a bet to gather information, while enabling your opponents to throw the hand away if the flop has caused him to lose all interest. A blocking bet is intended to head off a possible larger bet if from the opponent. It’s usually used in drawing situations where you feel your opponent may make a larger bet if you check, but will just call rather than raise if you take any action at all.
One-half of the pot: These are continuation bets, or value bets masquerading as continuation bets. Larger than probes, they’re big enough to make your opponent lay down the hand if he has nothing or a very weak draw, while small enough to offer you favorable odds. If your opponent folds just one-third of your continuation bets, you’ll at least break even on the move.
Two-thirds to three-quarters of the pot: These are generally solid value bets, designed to get the opponent to put some significant amount of money in the pot if he decides to play.
Pot-sized: These are serious bets which minimize your opponent’s immediate expressed odds if he’s on a draw. Pot-sizes bets are usually seen when the board is obviously dangerous, with a straight and/or flush draw. In these cases the bets usually represent either a value hand trying to charge a drawing hand, or a drawing hand making a semi-bluff.
Bets larger than the size of the pot are unusual and generally unnecessary. A pot-sized bet is large enough to accomplish anything that a bigger bet could accomplish. An exception occurs when one player is short stacked, so the pot-sized bet would effectively commit him to the pot. In such cases the short stack player may simple push all-in, or make a bet big enough to put his opponent all-in.
Source: Robertie, B. and Harrington D. (2008) Harrington on Cash Games Vol. 1, Nevada, Two Plus Two Publishing LLC.
Congratulations to Brett T for winning last week's chips. Play poker in the next 24 hours and stand a chance to win a free entry to any Gold Chip Lover (10 chips) Sit 'n Go. All players that play cash games will be entered into a draw and the winner will receive the free entry. Shuffle up and deal!
